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10 Questions with ... Tess Taylor
June 22, 2009
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NAME:Tess TaylorTITLE:PresidentBORN:Mesa, AZRAISED:Mesa, AZ and small town in Austria just outside Vienna
Please outline your radio career so far:
1986 Blue Danube Radio (Vienna)
1987 Avalon Attractions (LA)
1988-1993 MCA Records (LA)
1988 - present Founded Los Angeles Music Network (LAMN)
1994 World Cup, Entertainment Properties & Ceremonies (LA)
1998 - present Founded National Assn of Record Industry Professionals (NARIP)1) Tell us about the National Association of Record Industry Professionals?
NARIP promotes career advancement, education and good will among record executives. Based in Los Angeles, NARIP has chapters in Los Angeles, New York, London, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Phoenix, and we will be launching three more chapters this year.
2) What was your first job in the music business?
My first job was working as a Producer/Translator at Blue Danube Radio in Vienna when I attended university there.
Through a happy fluke, I was hired at this English-language station in Vienna that catered to the large international crowd there. I'd heard an ad for a secretary on the radio, but I was shot down for the gig because I didn't know shorthand. The Executive Producer of the station was the regal and occasionally imperious Telia Herrold whom I will always remember fondly since she was among the first to recognize my genius (Ha!)
Telia called me back and told me that while I wasn't qualified for the secretarial gig, she had been impressed with my unflappable demeanor and professional attitude, and she thought I would do well in different and unpredictable situations with a wide variety of (shall we say) colorful personalities. So she hired me to be the Weekend Producer of the show. Not only was it more fun, I also got to meet the on-air talent and it paid more! Excellent! I just loved it and met tons of great people.
3) What is the biggest misconception about record executives?
That they're all weasels. Many of them are highly skilled and have been forced to do battle with sinister forces and senior executives who are holding on to antiquated systems and out-moded thinking just long enough until they can retire. In fact, there is tremendous executive talent out there (have a look at NARIP's 2009 Best In The Biz List for a sampling at www.narip.com.
Unfortunately, much of it is siphoned off into other industries because the record business frequently fails to recognize this talent or takes it for granted. This is a loss to our industry, especially when the best of the bunch end up in competing industries. In spite of the press reporting mostly negative angles, there is still much opportunity, intelligence and good judgment in the record industry. There are many good people and reason to believe that the challenges we face can be overcome.
NARIP wishes to provide a platform to convey insights and perspectives on improving our business. We want professionals to get a fair shake, and we want to see to it that the quality of their lives and contributions, as well as those of creators and those who invest in them, are respected and valued. More than ever, there is a need for rallying points and to hear voices of strength and wisdom, especially during extended periods of uncertainty.
4) What is it about our industry that keeps you wanting to do it for a living?
Music is one of the finest inventions of mankind. When you hear some of the great monuments to human creativity that have been produced since humans learned to write, share, and transmit music. Why would you want to do anything else?
5) What is your favorite part of the job?
What I love about my job is that every day is different and self-directed. I love being free to pursue things which are meaningful to me. It is very energizing. I love the diversity and quality of ideas, people and opportunities. When members of LAMN and NARIP form relationships, take the information we have been able to provide, apply it and succeed. That gives me the greatest satisfaction. I dislike wasting opportunities and value on the myopic and self-indulgent.
6) Are you finding that today's "baby" bands are getting a fair shot at radio and more importantly, are they being given the airplay they need to break through to the masses and be recognized?
The challenge of good radio programming is to weave the familiar with the unfamiliar so listeners will be comfortable enough not to change the channel. For all the talk about new music and baby bands, few people will listen to nothing but new music for hours on end, and good programmers know this. People turn on the radio because they crave the familiar. New bands will do better if they understand who is already playing music similar to theirs, and get it into the hands of Programmers and Hosts whose music opinions are respected and trusted (like KCRW's Jason Bentley and Nic Harcourt, WXPN's David Dye, WFUV's Rita Houston) in the appropriate genre. Great art needs to make itself seen and heard, it's not an entitlement. And if radio isn't paying attention, try something else in the meantime and come back to radio later.
7) How are you using new music technologies to work the music you release and in your personal life?
I work on the record side of the business (rather than radio). While I am certainly grateful for the many conveniences modern technology affords, I have begun to replace mass communications with more person-to-person interaction, the personal touch and (as always) intense research. This includes the antiquated but highly appreciated hand-written note. My instincts on this are supported by a recent study which estimated that, worldwide, 183 billion emails were sent each day in 2006 (two million each second). By November 2007, an estimated 3.3 billion Earthlings owned cell phones, and 80% of the world's population had access to cell phone coverage. In 2004, half-a-trillion text messages were sent, and the number has increased exponentially since then. People are over-whelmed with too much information, much of it is useless drivel, so it's back to basics. Handwritten notes - they work!
8) What was the craziest promotion you ever did with a radio station?
This wasn't my bailiwick, but I especially enjoyed the promotion surrounding a Spinal Tap album following the success of their infinitely excellent film while I was at MCA. It was more clever than crazy. Some genius thought of a few fabulous promotional items, including the Extra Long Box and the Spinal Tap Colander. The Extra Long Box was twice the length of the then much protested long boxes which were clogging up landfills and getting all the pre-greenies into snits, so the Tap Folk doubled the size (and the waste) and justified it with a poignant little homage on the back of the box, something along the lines of, "as a tribute to the trees, we wanted to use as many of them as possible." To my deep and everlasting regret, I gave my Extra Long Box away. The Colander went to radio programmers along with the record and a note of apology, saying that unfortunately there had been a typographical error at the factory on the product order and thus the calendars requested and been returned as colanders. Genius.
9) Who is your favorite artist that you have ever met or worked with?
This is a tough to answer because I have had the good fortune to work with so many. My current favorite artist is Aunt Kizzy'z Boyz, the best live band I've seen or heard in over 20 years of attending many, many, many shows. Even at my age (ahem), I cannot resist dancing through their entire set, every single time I see them play live. They're dynamic as a band and their musicianship as individuals is like butter, and their front man Sugaray charms every audience into the palm of his hand where he holds them captive for hours at a time. He's the push-over-the-cliff, the one who takes it to "eleven" (to invoke Spinal Tap lines) and the secret sauce. At a recent show, I observed young folks in their early 20s, a swath of middle-aged patrons, and three fans age 70+ who had driven 3 hours from Palm Springs just to see the band. Every single age group was engaged, happy to be there and reluctant to leave when the show ended (the band received countless cries for encores). It was electric and I haven't seen a band like this in years that has such broad appeal across age groups.
10) Record sales are down for a seventh consecutive year. What can be done about this?
With hard drives and portable listening devices able to store literally thousands of songs, how many tunes get the attention they deserve much less listened to very much? I love receiving music recommendations from my friends and will always be open to new music, but on the other hand, if I never got another new piece of music, I would be happy with what I have now.
The best music bears listening to over and over. I dislike the notion of music collections that are so large that the collector doesn't even know what he has anymore, much less the ability to locate it, find time to listen to and appreciate it. Because of the proliferation of cheap recording technology, and with everyone now able to make a recording with ease, there is much more in the marketplace than any human could possibly absorb. So artists have to concentrate on making truly exceptional music. "Good" is no longer "good enough" (at least if you want to receive commercial recognition). And those who market and sell the music (radio programmers and record execs) have to concentrate on creating simple yet exceptional ways to market it. Simplifying the message and the marketing, and not scattering resources to 1,000 different outlets is key. Finally, we need to have patience. If the material is good, and if you can capture some of that illusive and most valuable commodity today (people's attention) then great music can and will break through.
Bonus Questions
1) What did you want to be when you were growing up?
I knew I wanted to work in music and I wanted to be independent. That is, not be a slave in a large corporation and travel the world. So far, so good!
2) What led you to a career in the music business?
I have always been in love with music, thanks to my parents, and I started playing piano around the time I learned to walk. I spent much time in and around Vienna (thanks to my Austrian mother) and I had the benefit of that rich musical heritage and culture around me. I majored in music in college and went straight into the music business after graduating. It was always clear that I would be involved with music.
3) What was the first concert you ever attended?
David Bowie, Serious Moonlight Tour - outstanding, I am a fan for life and have contributed enormously (and delightedly) to David Bowie's bottom line over the years. "Young Americans/Golden Years" was the first single I ever bought. Still have it. Still love it.
4) Do you read.....everything? Books, Magazines, etc. Nothing? What's your favorite reading material?
Reading is a luxurious pleasure, I have a book with me wherever I go and read fiction and non-fiction. I especially like gripping crime and espionage novels (DeMille, Crais, Childs, Connelly, Cornwell, Sandford, Wilson, Baldacci, Hunter), really biting wit (a la Shaw, Twain, Coward, Bryson, O'Rourke, Wilde, Carkeet), and biographies / autobiographies of fascinating people. I also enjoy books on understanding what makes people tick, achieving maximum levels of performance in all areas, self-improvement, marketing, how-to and the odd subject. I am working on a book of my own at the moment.
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